The sting

BUNDLED into a cell, denied food and threatened with a razor-sharp weaponthis is the fate of some male wasps once their role is fulfilled.

In wasp colonies, females do the work while males only mate with the queen. They then become a drain on resources. Scientists at Cornell University in New York report in this week's Nature (vol 389, p 450) that some female paper wasps (Polistes dominulus) imprison defunct males to prevent them using up rations.

Researchers Philip Starks and Emily Poe found that female wasps sometimes push males that have mated head-first into empty nest cells. They then pin them there using their stings for several minutes.

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